The Torrens Title is a certificate of title
for an interest in land. On this single certificate all transactions for
the property land are registered; transfers, mortgages, leases and so
on, with this registration guaranteed correct by the State. The Certificate
of Title was formally prepared in duplicate, one remained with the Registrar
General while the owner keeps the other.

Since 1990 the register of the certificates
of title has progressively been converted to a computerised record. The
original Certificate of Title is held electronically and a paper Certificate
of Title is provided to the owner as evidence of ownership. Today at the
Lands Titles Office a would be buyer can check the title of the property.
From computer searches and plans of the district one can trace the land
which is of interest. At a glance of the certificate the particulars of
the property are clear and the ownership certain, allowing the buyer to
go ahead with complete confidence.

Robert Richard Torrens is widely regarded
as having conceived the idea of the Real Property Act. He first introduced
his Bill to amend land titles to the State parliament in May of 1857 and
after much debate and opposition it came to the final vote in December.
He then resigned his seat in parliament to become the first Registrar
General to administer the new Act.

Robert Richard Torrens also helped the introduction
of the Torrens Title system to other Australian states and New Zealand.
Since then the principal of the Torrens Title system of land registration
has spread throughout the world.

Torrens left Australia in 1862 and took his
ideas to Ireland, his native country, and to England where he was knighted
for his life’s work. Prior to the Real Property Act, disputes over land
ownership and boundaries where frequent and sometimes violent. Under the
Torrens system there are few disputes because all dealings are recorded
on the Certificate of Title, which is guaranteed by the State.

Over the years methods have been modernised
but the principal remains the same. A single indisputable Certificate
of Title recorded in the Lands Titles Office and a paper version held
by the owner.

For these benefits Australia and the world
have much to thank Robert Richard Torrens.